What happened This day in History on March 17th

2001 England Eden Project
17th March, 2001 : The Eden Project opens , It is the worlds largest greenhouse and is designed to help save the worlds largest number of plant species from around the world, with a number of domes each emulating a natural climate and geographical area of ecologically , the project has over 100,000 plants and is now one of the UK's most important tourist attractions .

1966 Spain Hydrogen Bomb Found
17th March, 1966: A hydrogen bomb that had fallen from a B-52 bomber when it collided with a KC-135 refueling jet over the Mediterranean Sea was located by a U.S. midget submarine off the coast of Spain, it is recovered from the sea floor in April of the same year from a depth of 2,500 feet .

1920 U.S.A. Blizzard
Wednesday, 17th March, 1920: A harsh blizzard had caused serious damage in Bismark, North Dakota, and temperatures had dropped dramatically. During this storm, an 18-year girl old had taken her jacket and covered her brother and sister with it.
In the process, Hazel Minor (the 18-year-old) had lost her live. However, the lives of her younger siblings were saved. They all had laid in a snowdrift for 24 hours before being discovered.

1926 U.S.A. Musical
17th March, 1926 : The musical "The Girl Friend" opens in New York City. It runs for an impressive 409 performances.

1931 U.S.A. Nevada Legalizes Gambling
17th March, 1931: Nevada Senate voted to legalize all forms of gambling in the state providing the impetus for the growth of Las Vegas .

1938 Spain Bombing
17th March, 1938: Nine air raids total took place in Spain. About 300 lives were reported lost as a result of this attack, which took place in the city of Barcelona. One of the bombs was dropped near the U.S. Embassy, which Francisco Franco’s troops were responsible for.

1948 Belgium Western European Treaty
17th March, 1948: This was the date of the signing of the 50-year Western European Treaty. The countries of Britain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg all agreed to participate in this agreement, which included a provision for each of these countries to provide one another with military aid.

1949 Switzerland Porsche
17th March, 1949 : The first car with a Porsche badge is shown at International Automobile Show in Geneva, Switzerland on a Porsche 356.

1953 U.S.A. Railway Income Drop
17th March, 1953: According to a report made just recently, Sante Fe Railway experienced an income drop of over $3,345,000. This difference income was compared and contrasted between 1952 and 1951.

1965 Vietnam War
17th March, 1965: Word was out that the United States had invaded communist regions of Laos. The U.S. had dropped more than 20 tons of bombs in this location.

1968 England Anti Vietnam War Demonstrators
17th March, 1968: 10,000 Anti Vietnam war demonstrators rally at Trafalgar square peacefully but when the demonstration moves outside the United States embassy in London, the demonstration turns violent with 130 injured, fifty taken to hospital including up to 25 police officers.

1969 Israel Golda Meir
17th March, 1969: Golda Meir becomes first female Prime Minister of Israel, she had been born in Russia but the family had emigrated to the United States and she had gone to school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was one of twenty-four signatories (two of them women) of the Israeli declaration of independence on May 14th, 1948 .

1972 U.S.A.
17th March, 1972: The first part of an article printed in a local West Virginia newspaper described the plight of hearing-impaired children. In this state, inadequate help was being provided, according to this report. This report, as well as part two of it, was printed to help detect and treat hearing impaired children.

1978 Lebanon Israel Attacks
17th March, 1978: Israel continues it's attacks on southern Lebanon forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in vans, lorries and old buses to head for the safety of Beirut . The Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon are in retaliation for the bus hijacking in Tel Aviv in which 35 people were killed and 100 others were injured 5 days earlier.

1984 England Boat Race
17th March, 1984: The 130th Cambridge / Oxford Boat Race is postponed for 24hrs after the Cambridge boat collides with a barge and sinks. The Boat Race dates back to 1829, with the first race held on 10 June at Henley-on-Thames. The current race is over the four and a quarter mile distance from Putney to Mortlake along the River Thames through London and pits students from Cambridge and Oxford universities . Cambridge currently lead the series since 1829 by 79-73. The 155th Boat Race takes place Saturday, March 29th 2009 at 15.40pm Boat Race Website

1988 U.S.A. Warts
17th March, 1988: Precaution warning was given regarding the use of Carbon Dioxide treatment for warts. Although this has been a proven treatment for removing warts, doctors performing this procedure were advised to be careful not to allow the wart virus vapors to enter into the air.

1990 U.S.A. Pointdexter
17th March, 1990: An update was made dated today (March 17, 1990) regarding the 5,000 computer erased by Pointdexter the day before resigning as Reagan’s national security advisor. FBI agent Ellen Glasser had testified to this fact on the previous Thursday.
Moreover, Glasser also revealed that Poindexter told the FBI three days after resigning that he (Pointdextor) had no knowledge of early Iran shipments and profits made by Nicaragua Contras.
Further information was printed about Pointdextor, indicating that he assisted a request made by Oliver North to Divert arms profits to the Contras. Pointdextor was also involved in the shipping of missiles to the Contras in 1985.

2000 Ireland Bubbles Float Downwards Guiness
17th March, 2000: This was a big debate in the city of Ireland-one of the more peaceful and light-hearted this nation has ever taken part in. The question was asked why the bubbles float downwards rather than upwards when Guinness beer is poured into a glass.

2003 U.S.A. Iraq Invasion
17th March, 2003 : Two days prior to the US invasion of Iraq President George W. Bush gave a final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that he had 48 hours for him and his sons to leave Iraq.

2007 U.S.A. March on the Pentagon
17th March, 2007 : Thousands of demonstrators have marched to the Pentagon to mark the fourth anniversary
of the American invasion of Iraq
and the fortieth anniversary of the march that occured during the Vietnam War.
This has coincided with demonstrations in
Washington, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and elsewhere. The liberal group
MoveOn.org is holding many small
protest vigils around the country, and Saturday’s march is organized by
the Answer Coalition, which uses the letters for Act
Now to Stop War and End Racism, and is associated with the Workers World Party.

2008 U.S.A. IRS announces stimulus payments Dates
17th March, 2008 : The Internal Revenue Service will begin to send more than 130 million economic stimulus payments in May and the Social security number will determine the date checks are sent.
Last two digits of SSN as listed below determine when Check should be mailed by
00-09.............................May 16
10-18.............................May 23
19-25.............................May 30
26-38.............................June 6
39-51.............................June 13
52-63.............................June 20
64-75.............................June 27
76-87.............................July 4
88-99.............................July 11

2008 Kosovo Kosovo becomes independent
17th March, 2008 : Kosovo's parliament has declared independence from Serbia. The Kosovan Prime Minister
has promised a democracy that
respects the rights of all ethnic communities, and the Serbian Prime Minister
has denounced the United States for its help there.
The U.N. Security Council was split on the issue, with Russia saying that there
was no need to change the 1999 resolution
that handed Kosovo to the U.N.
European Union foreign ministers have ended talks on Kosovo's independence from
Serbia, with its member states being
divided in their recognition of it. France has said that it would recognize its
independence, but several other states, especially
Spain, were unhappy about the legal ramifications if held. President Bush has
said that Kosovo's people were 'independent,'
but stopped short of a formal recognition of the country. Russia has backed Serbia
in its refusal to recognize the succession.

2009 United States Seattle newspaper is the first major newspaper to be produced online only
17th March, 2009 : The 146 year old Seattle Post-Intelligencer has printed its final edition, before
becoming a solely online operation. Its owner
has failed to find a buyer for the paper, which was put on sale in January. The
newspaper industry has been badly hit by the
financial markets, and a number of other titles face closure. The online-only
venture is the first by any U.S. paper. The
Post-Intelligencer said it will be maintaining seattlepi.com, making it the nation's
largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely
digital news print.

2010 United States Obama says he will be pursuing 'aggressive sanctions' on Iran
17th March, 2010 : President Barack Obama has said that the United States would pursue 'aggressive sanctions'
to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear
weapon. Obama, who has been pursuing dialogue with Iran as a cornerstone of his
administration's foreign policy, has said he
was successful in getting the international community to isolate Tehran. 'As we've
seen, the Iranian government has been more
concerned about preventing their people from exercising their democratic and human
rights than trying to solve this problem
diplomatically,' he said today.

17th March, 2014 : El Salvador's electoral court has confirmed Salvador Sanchez Ceren the winner of a hotly contested presidential election in the Central American country. The election was held on March 9 and ex-rebel Salvador Sanchez Ceren won 50.11 percent of the vote compared to opposing candidate Norman Quijano's 49.89 percent. Sanchez Ceren would become the country's first leftist ex-rebel president.

Born This Day In History 17th March

Celebrating Birthday's TodayNat King Cole Born: Nathaniel Adams Coles, March 17th 1919, Montgomery, Alabama, United StatesDied: February 15th 1965 , Montgomery, Alabama, United StatesKnown For : Nat King Cole is best known as a leading jazz pianist with a soft baritone voice which he used for singing ballads, he released more than 40 original albums and compilations during his career. He broke new ground for the TV show "The Nat King Cole Show" on NBC between November 1956 to December 1957 which included many of the well known stars of the day including Sammy Davis, Jr., Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt and Peggy Lee. The show broke new ground in TV because it was the first of this type of show hosted by an African-American, but because of the times could never find national advertising sponsorship which was an important funding element for TV shows in the late 1950's. The video featured is an ideal representation of his unique style and voice

John Wayne Gacy Born: March 17th 1942, Chicago, Illinois, USADied: Lethal injection, May 10th, 1994, Crest Hill, Illinois, USA Known For : John Wayne Gacy convicted serial killer who murdered 33 victims who were boys or young men between 1972 – 1978 he buried 26 of them in the small crawl space underneath the basement of his home . During his trial he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was found guilty and sentenced to death on March 13th 1980. He was executed at Stateville Correctional Center on May 10th 1994.
Gacy threw popular block parties for his friends and neighbors and appeared at other functions and events as “Pogo The Clown”. This is how he became known as "Killer Clown" .